World Bank, donors committed to peace and development of Mindanao, WB country director says

COTABATO CITY
- We, like all of our international partners, are working together for
this program. We are very much committed to the peace and development of
Mindanao.

These were the
statement of Mara Warwick, country director of the World Bank Philippines, in a
visit to one of the WB-funded project sites in Barangay Central Malamote,
Matalam in North Cotabato on November 22, 2016 being supported by the Mindanao
Trust Fund (MTF), a multi-donor program administered by the Bank.

Barangay Malamote
is among the 14 sites being visited for the 14th Implementation Support Mission
(ISM), a monitoring activity conducted by WB every six months to review the
status of program implementation through site visits and community
interactions.

It is a
recipient of 6-unit water pump livelihood project which was officially turned
over in October to the people’s organization. Created in created through the program Bangsamoro
Assistance for Development and Community Empowerment (Bangsamoro ADVANCE), it
was implemented by the Bangsamoro Development Agency (BDA), the development arm
of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

sand//scontent.fmnl4-3.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/15241988_1523671397659272_7417954684267043763_n.jpg?oh=8d4c6c16f5db9a41d95a391348d76cacandampoe=58F8F54B (Barangay Malamote villagers pose with the water impounding project they received from MTF through BDA) Warwick was
warmly welcomed by the people of Barangay Malamote during her visit.

Thank
you for your very warm welcome and for everybody for joining us here this
afternoon for your generous hospitality, Warwick said even as she
explained why her team was there.

Today,
we have been travelling around to look at some of the projects under the
Mindanao Trust Fund (MTF), she added, saying it was her first time to travel
in this part of Mindanao.

So, it is very
exciting to come out and see the community and see the projects, she said. We
are very impressed with all the hard works that everybody has done to finish
this project. We are also really prepared to support this program, to support
BDA and to support all of you, the WB official said.

We really do
appreciate the chance to come and meet you, the visibly elated official
added.

The country
director has been in the region for the ISM, a monitoring activity conducted by
the World Bank with other donor partners to see status of program
implementation being supported by the MTF.

MTF is
supported by various donors such as such as the European Union, the governments
of Sweden, Australia, Canada, United States, New Zealand and the World Bank
which also serves as trust fund secretariat.

MTF has been
supporting BDA since 2006 reaching 127,031 beneficiaries through 140
sub-projects implemented in 65 barangays of 21 municipalities across the
regions of Central Mindanao, Davao, Ranaw, Southern Mindanao,
Zamboanga-Peninsula and Zamboanga-Basilan as of 2015.

This year, the
total number of beneficiaries was at 115,254 for Bangsamoro ADVANCE (44.2%
male, 55.8% female) in 50 communities within the influenced areas of the 25
MILF Base Camps in the regions of Central Mindanao, Southern Mindanao, Davao,
Ranaw, Zamboanga-Peninsula, Zamboanga-Basilan and in the island provinces of
Tawi-Tawi and Sulu) and 26, 976 for Bangsamoro SOLIDARITY (48% male, 52% female
in 10 tri people communities).

Bangsamoro
ADVANCE (Php 150M total budget) and Bangsamoro SOLIDARITY (Php 30M total
budget) are programs conceptualized in support to confidence building measures
of the GPH- MILF as provided for in the Comprehensive Agreement on Bangsamoro
(CAB).

This was also
in response to the clamour from the communities especially on the
implementation of basic services including livelihood opportunities.

The Community
and Family Services International (CFSI) is the trust fund recipient (TFR) for
ADVANCE and the Mindanao Land Foundation (Minland) is the TFR for SOLIDARITY.

In the recent
MTF Interim Steering Committee Meeting on November 15, 2016 at Discovery
Suites, Ortigas, Pasig City joined by the officials from World Bank, the BDA
and the Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPPAP), it was
decided, and has been approved, to extend the MTF as trust fund facility until
June 2017.

This means of that
MTF will still have one more year to implement fresh program that shall build
on the MTFRDP gains since its pilot implementation in 2006 up to the present that
will be informed by the Bangsamoro Development Plan (BDP).